SSDs vs HDDs

If you have a web site or perhaps an web app, rate of operation is critical. The swifter your site functions and then the faster your applications function, the better for you. Considering that a site is simply a set of files that connect to each other, the devices that keep and work with these files have a vital role in website operation.

Hard disk drives, or HDDs, were, until recent years, the most reliable devices for keeping data. Nevertheless, in recent times solid–state drives, or SSDs, have been gaining interest. Have a look at our assessment chart to find out if HDDs or SSDs are better for you.

1. Access Time

A result of a radical new method of disk drive operation, SSD drives allow for considerably faster data access rates. Having an SSD, file accessibility instances are far lower (as small as 0.1 millisecond).

HDD drives continue to makes use of the very same basic data file access technique that was originally created in the 1950s. Despite the fact that it was substantially enhanced since that time, it’s slow in comparison with what SSDs will provide. HDD drives’ file access rate ranges somewhere between 5 and 8 milliseconds.

2. Random I/O Performance

The random I/O performance is vital for the overall performance of any file storage device. We have run extensive testing and have identified an SSD can manage at the very least 6000 IO’s per second.

Hard drives offer reduced data access rates as a result of aging file storage space and access technique they’re employing. Additionally they show noticeably sluggish random I/O performance when held up against SSD drives.

3. Reliability

SSD drives don’t have virtually any rotating components, which means that there’s a lesser amount of machinery in them. And the fewer literally moving elements there are, the fewer the likelihood of failure can be.

The regular rate of failing of any SSD drive is 0.5%.

As we have previously observed, HDD drives rely on spinning hard disks. And something that utilizes many moving components for extended amounts of time is susceptible to failure.

HDD drives’ average rate of failing varies between 2% and 5%.

4. Energy Conservation

SSDs do not have moving components and require almost no cooling energy. In addition, they demand not much power to work – lab tests have shown that they’ll be operated by a standard AA battery.

In general, SSDs use up somewhere between 2 and 5 watts.

HDD drives are renowned for getting loud. They require more electrical power for cooling down reasons. Within a web server that has different HDDs running continuously, you will need a great deal of fans to ensure they are kept cool – this will make them a lot less energy–economical than SSD drives.

HDDs use up between 6 and 15 watts.

5. CPU Power

Because of SSD drives’ higher I/O performance, the leading server CPU can easily process data file requests much faster and save time for different procedures.

The common I/O wait for SSD drives is only 1%.

If you use an HDD, you must spend additional time waiting for the results of your data call. Because of this the CPU will be idle for additional time, awaiting the HDD to respond.

The normal I/O delay for HDD drives is approximately 7%.

6.Input/Output Request Times

In real life, SSDs conduct as perfectly as they managed during our checks. We produced an entire platform data backup on one of our own production web servers. During the backup process, the common service time for I/O queries was basically below 20 ms.

With the exact same web server, however this time equipped with HDDs, the effects were totally different. The standard service time for an I/O request changed somewhere between 400 and 500 ms.

7. Backup Rates

Talking about back–ups and SSDs – we’ve detected a significant enhancement with the back–up rate as we moved to SSDs. Today, a common server back–up takes solely 6 hours.

In contrast, with a web server with HDD drives, the same backup takes three to four times as long to complete. A full backup of an HDD–powered hosting server usually takes 20 to 24 hours.

Should you want to right away add to the efficiency of your web sites and never having to transform any code, an SSD–operated hosting service is really a very good alternative. Check the Linux cloud website hosting packages as well as the Linux VPS hosting – our solutions include really fast SSD drives and are offered at cheap prices.